The Family 2017

The Family | La Familia

The Family-La Familia

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THE FAMILY tells the story of a single father who is trying to raise his 12-year-old son in the ever-hardening economic conditions of Venezuela.

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About The Family 💬

It's not easy to survive on the outskirts of Caracas, where the atmosphere is thick with searing poverty and violence. People live from one moment to the next and any mistake is immediately punished. Twelve-year-old Pedro (Reggie Reyes) roams the streets with his friends, raised by the violent urban atmosphere around him in a working-class district of Caracas. After Pedro seriously injures another boy in a rough game of play, single father Andrés (Giovanni García) decides they must flee to hide. What can you do when your home - your only safe harbor in a chaotic world - suddenly becomes the target of new enemies?

Andrés will realize he is a father incapable of controlling his own teenage son, but their situation will bring them closer than they have ever been.

THE FAMILY is the feature film debut of Venezuelan director Gustavo Rondón Córdova.

• COMMENTS FROM WRITER-DIRECTOR GUSTAVO RONDÓN CÓRDOVA

In THE FAMILY, Andrés is a single father who works hard to barely survive. In the absence of the maternal figure, only basic care can be offered to his 12-year-old son Pedro. Consciously or unconsciously, his father is also absent, as if expecting the boy to be raised alone, to learn alone, to survive alone.

Exploring family ties is such a pressing issue now in Venezuela, in the midst of all our inescapable social problems. Our country is undergoing a hostile and individualistic moment. That's why I chose to make a film in which the characters are shaped by their situation and its dynamics after their bond is shattered by a violent event. This film is about bringing two people together, a father and son. Their first step is to repair the bond to live a new existence.

VIOLENCE

Violence has been a problem in Venezuela for many decades but has seriously declined over the last 20 years. There has been a huge increase in the number of delinquent children, and their crimes have become more violent. In the slums, the only efforts to prevent children from roaming the streets is to try and keep them indoors, but even this is no guarantee they'll stay out of trouble. In THE FAMILY, Pedro hurts another boy in self-defense and must face the consequences of expected revenge from his gang or the other family. The father flees with his son, but not to escape the law. There is scarcely a moment when they are slightly afraid of the law. In this case, fear is about a man who has turned against man, in a place where no one pays for his own faults.

GIOVANNY GARCÍA AS ANDRÉS

No matter how much realism I wanted for the film, I knew that Andrés had to be played by an experienced actor. I felt confident that I could generate a symbiosis between a pro actor's interpretation and a young non-actor. Since Giovanni García is a very physical guy and also somewhat of a handyman, his ability to slip into the character's activities brought an additional texture of reality to the film. He's an actor who does not care how he looks so he was the perfect guy to eat, sleep and sweat the role. As I requested, he slept and showered the minimum during the shoot. Giovanni's Andrés shows scars and weaknesses, strengths and desires. He is constantly confronted with the aggressiveness of the other characters, and he is far from what his son admires, but he manages to find the force to defend what he believes he must defend.

REGGIE REYES AS PEDRO

From the start, I wanted young Pedro to be played by a non-actor, and I wanted him to have the roughness of the street. We did an extensive casting throughout Caracas, visiting schools, sports centers, dance venues, etc, sometimes very close to the scouted locations. Together with the casting directors, we designed an acting workshop for the pre-selected children. We all knew immediately that Reggie Reyes was who we had been looking for to play Pedro. His presence was strong, rough, yet tender at the same time. He generated affection, but not pity. He has a great personality and remnants of childhood still remain in his gaze. For a 12-year-old, he had the discipline to get through our often complicated shooting days.

CARACAS

I felt strongly about shooting on location with the intention of documenting a specific moment in Venezuela. There is a shortage of food, medicine, water, electricity, and the highest inflation in the world as the country undergoes an unprecedented economic crisis. I wanted to make Caracas a character. It is a place that fascinates me and encourages me to creatively. I wanted to show the city and its inhabitants, its contrasts, its sparkling personality and also its roughness, its hardness. It's an immense place full of diverse people immersed in the same dynamics, where the only difference seems to be purchasing power. Caracas is also a city that shapes its inhabitants. It is there in the streets where Pedro and many children like him get the education they do not receive at home. The young learn fast

The Family Movie Details 🎥

Directed by

Gustavo Rondón Córdova

Writing Credits

Gustavo Rondón Córdova

Starring

Giovanni García

Reggie Reyes

Music by

Alejandro Zavala

Cinematography by

Luis Armando Arteaga

Genre: Drama

Countries: Venezuela, Chile, Norway

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